Lost and Found
by Z. Alexander
Summary: E and A, A and C linking story. From Uzumaki Naruto, to Mochizuki Nara, to Mochizuki Naruto...one girl has many names. She's on the move, trying to regain her memories: but she, and others, may end up gaining more than that along the way.


* * *

So, here's the sidestory I promised for "Effect and Affection." There is some out-of-character interaction here; I do have reasons, which I will explain at the bottom. Just know that I have reasons for doing what I did, and I'll tell you after you're finished reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Obviously.

Note: Naruto thinks she's only been gone for four months...and at first, she doesn't have her memories back. Just keep that in mind, okay? She left on the third day of April, in case you've forgotten.

* * *

Naruto floundered for a few days after she left Yoko's house – _home. _She'd come to think of it as home, after living there for a few months…and she wasn't quite sure where to go from there. Yoko had saved her, had cared for her. Yoko had been her mentor, her friend…family. Maybe not a mother…but a close aunt, perhaps. And after she left, Naruto wasn't sure what to do.

But somewhere out there, someone knew who she was. She wanted to know who 'Naruto' had been before she'd become Mochizuki Nara, and most recently, Mochizuki Naruto. She wanted to know who Sasuke was, and who Obito was.

And now she had one more name to add to her list: 'Minato,' and he was apparently a teacher. Minato-sensei. When she reached into the back corners of her mind, she couldn't find anything; but when she focused on something else, she'd get fleeting glimpses of _something. _Of course, when she tried to capture it, the _something _would slip away again. It was more than a little annoying, but it was life…and she had a few things to go on, anyhow.

It was on perhaps the fifteenth day she met the woman in a sort of restaurant/pub.

She was blonde, and she had a young lady with her; the girl was a little younger than Naruto, or perhaps the same age, and had dark hair. Naruto met the blonde woman's honey-brown eyes and something pulled at her; it made her heart jump.

She just wished she knew _why._

"Do I…know you," she asked uncertainly.

The woman made an irritated _tch _noise and replied, "Kid…I've never met you before in my life. Get outta here, squirt."

"I can do anything I want," Naruto replied hotly. "You're just some random lady."

"You're the one who's going around asking 'random ladies' if you know them," the random lady replied, almost condescendingly. "I'm not someone you forget easily."

"Yeah, well, I don't remember _anything," _she shot back. "Something hit me in the head or something, and I can't remember. So back off, and just forget I asked you anything, all right?"

She wasn't sure why she was so defensive about the loss of memory; perhaps it was just that the lady's condescension hurt more than it should. She was _sure _she'd met the woman before, now. She could _feel _it.

"Cheeky little punk."

"Mean old hag."

The woman made the _tch _noise again and flicked her forehead, which knocked her violently off her stool. Instead of getting angry, like the lady probably thought she would, Naruto smiled brilliantly and said, "Lady, you're a kunoichi! Train me!"

"No," replied the lady.

Naruto scowled. "Why?"

"I'm not a _ninja _any more. Get lost, kid."

At this point, the young woman – who had been silent until this point – said, quietly, "Please…don't rile Tsunade-sama. It's not in your best interest, and it's not in hers, either."

"Tsunade, huh…" Naruto paused at the tugging sensation in the back of her head, and then shook her head. "Tsunade-babaa. What do I have to do to prove myself to you, huh?"

The dark-haired young woman seemed to choke on air, and the blonde woman – Tsunade – turned her way, looking more than a little irritated. "What makes you think _you _could _ever _prove yourself to me?"

Naruto grinned and pointed to her chest. "I'm Mochizuki Naruto, and I never give up on anything! I don't take back my words, or break promises! If I say I'll do something, then I'll do it!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I _want _you to prove yourself to me, brat?"

Suddenly, Naruto realized she _did _know this woman. "Hey! I _do _know you, old lady!"

"Naruto-san, please!"

"That's _it, _brat. Do you want to take this outside?"

"If that's what it takes," Naruto replied, eagerly taking the challenge. "But hang on a second; I have to pay."

She put down some money for her unfinished meal, and extra for good measure. "There," she said. "Now both our meals are paid for. Let's go."

Tsunade eyed Naruto for a moment before she led the way outside and asked almost suspiciously, "How do you have so much money, if you don't remember who you are? Nobody carries that much around with them all the time."

Naruto was especially proud of this. "Oh…well, I didn't have a lot of money when I started out, but this is a gambling town and I've been here for four days. I don't know why, but I seem to be really lucky…I've never lost a bet or _anything. _I just keep…winning." She shrugged. "So…what do I do, granny? How do I prove myself to you?"

Tsunade's eyes were wide. "You…have _never _lost?"

"Nope! But…seriously. I want to be as strong as you. What do I have to do to get you to train me, even if it's just a little?"

Tsunade just turned on her heel, and the dark-haired young woman frowned. "She wants you to come with us, I think," she whispered. "But…Naruto-san, I would leave if I were you. Tsunade-sama is grieving, and…I don't want to make this difficult for her."

"I just lost the person who means most to me," Naruto replied firmly. "I don't remember anyone but her, and she just died…I couldn't save her. She didn't even _want _me to. I don't care who this Tsunade person is; she is strong, and I feel like I know her. I _want _to follow; I _need _to know who I am."

The girl sighed and bowed her head in acceptance. "My name is Shizune," she said. "I'm Tsunade-sama's attendant. Please be careful; she may become angry with you at some point."

Naruto snorted and began following after the blonde woman. "I don't know _what, _exactly, but I remember the sensations…I've been through worse things than that finger-flick of doom. I think I'll be okay."

Ooo.ooO

For the first four days, Naruto found that life with Tsunade was strangely fun. Tsunade was a mean old lady – who, for the record, was not as old as Naruto somehow remembered her to be – but she was a powerful kunoichi; and Shizune had a good sense of humor, if you caught her in the right mood. Tsunade hadn't agreed to train Naruto yet, but Naruto was working on it.

On the fifth day, though, Tsunade noticed the necklace around Naruto's neck and seemed to be angry at her for reasons she didn't understand.

"Where did you get that," she asked, sounding deadly quiet.

"I think it was a gift," Naruto replied automatically. And then, as if someone had flipped a switch in her mind, she continued. "Yeah, yeah! She gave it to me. I won a bet, I think. She said I couldn't do something, and I said I could…and then I did it, but I think I died, but she brought me back to life! And then she gave it to me, and she kissed me on the forehead and…did something. I don't remember what, but…I wanted her to, and she did it when she gave me this."

Naruto, trying to remember, babbled on. "Hey! I kinda remember. I think…I wanted to be someone important. And someone wanted _her _to…do it, or something. And then we found her…I don't know who was with me, but I think he had white hair or something. Maybe I'm wrong; I don't really remember his looks, only that he was a big lecher. But then she said she wouldn't, and I got mad, and then we made that bet."

She looked up at Tsunade, who seemed pale and _very _angry. Naruto didn't let that deter her. "Hey, hey…she kinda looked like you, if I remember right. But now that I say it, maybe it was only a dream. Maybe I…only dreamed it. It's a cool necklace though, huh?"

"Get out," the woman replied.

"…Huh?"

"Get out of here, and don't come back."

"But-"

"You'd better go, Naruto-san," Shizune whispered. "Tsunade-sama will not take kindly to you if you stay."

Reluctantly, Naruto packed her things and left the hotel room. She'd _liked _Tsunade and Shizune, despite Tsunade's occasional meanness and strange gambling habits. Naruto had paid for their rooms with the money she won, but that was all right, too; they'd almost felt like family, and despite Tsunade's constant losing streak, she never actually wanted Naruto to play for her.

Her only consolation was that she _knew _Tsunade, from somewhere. She just had to keep looking; her memories would come back soon. She was _sure _of it.

Ooo.ooO

There was a little town called Tara on the northwest border of Fire Country, and it was there that Naruto stopped for supplies. She'd originally planned to move in a spiraling motion into the heart of Fire Country, but she had underestimated the sheer _size._

Tara was situated at the base of a…well, Naruto thought it was a foothill, but the people of Tara called it Mt. Tara. She had gone into the village to buy supplies…and she left the village with answers.

Some of them recognized her from a mission she'd apparently done; and a few of them were not very pleased with her. Apparently, she'd completed her mission, but…some of the villagers blamed her for some kidnappings which must've had to do with her mission. Yoko had warned her about this; sometimes, ninja were blamed for things they had no control over because civilians didn't understand. Civilians hired ninja to solve their problems; they didn't realize that ninjutsu wasn't perfect, ninja even less so.

But her problem was that she _didn't _remember any of them. And then, she came upon the 'head' of the village.

"You're a Konoha ninja, of course," he said. "Uzumaki Naruto. I'd recognize those whiskered cheeks _anywhere."_

Uzumaki Naruto, from Konoha.

She _should _go back…but she didn't want to go, until she remembered something on her own. Yoko had said, once, that the best way to remember something you've forgotten is to find a place or thing related to it, but…something was telling her to stay away.

Since she didn't have many memories, she had to trust her gut.

Ooo.ooO

She ran into a white-haired man in a small village further into Fire Country. His hair was long, and he had marks on his cheeks; he was familiar. More familiar than Tsunade had been.

He was also in a place she couldn't go; he had three women around him, and they were not 'nice girls.' For some reason, she sighed in _almost _fond exasperation. She knew she _must _know this man from somewhere…but she didn't know _where._

So she waited. She waited until he came out, and she cornered him.

"I think I know you," she said directly.

He peered at her, wide-eyed. She wasn't sure if he recognized her, but she hoped he did.

"I didn't think I was _drunk," _he muttered.

She sighed. "Maybe you _aren't. _I mean…you seem _really _familiar to me, so…whoever you think you're seeing…uh. It might be the truth."

"I _think _I'm seeing a young female version of my old apprentice," he said, and gave her a grin. "But I'm not surprised you've heard of me. I-"

"No, I _haven't _heard of you," she interrupted. "I think I _recognize _you. Or at least…I think I've spent a lot of time with you, because you seem familiar. I just…well…I don't remember anything about myself, really, so I just have to go with the feeling. And you _feel _familiar, somehow."

"_Have _you spent time with me? You seem a little young…" He gave her a skeptical look. "That aside, I think I must be hallucinating."

"I'm not a _whore. _Besides; you don't _seem _drunk," she pointed out. "Your eyes are still sharp, and you have control of your facilities. So maybe you really _do _see me. Who was your old apprentice, anyway?"

She realized they'd been walking. It felt natural to be walking beside him; when he'd said 'apprentice,' she'd thought for a moment that he was going to say _her _name. The path they were on seemed familiar, too…like they'd walked it before.

"His name was Namikaze Minato," he said quietly. "Kid…I don't know how, but you kinda seem familiar too. I knew a girl who spoke like you."

"Maybe it was me," she said hopefully.

"Nah, she had red hair." He grinned. "She was pretty. And married to my old apprentice."

"Namikaze _Minato, _huh," she asked. The name – not the family name, though that sounded familiar – was something she remembered. "That name…it seems very familiar to me."

"It's known all over the Shinobi Nations. I'm not surprised."

"So…you're a ninja, huh? What's your name?"

At first, Naruto was _sure _he was going to do something stupid…she thought she remembered it. But he only said, "Jiraiya. One of the densetsu no sannin."

"One of them? Who were the other two?"

"Well, one of them is named Orochimaru. He works with-"

"Snakes," Naruto interrupted quietly. "Hebi-kusotare."

"What was that, kid?"

She blinked. "Oh…I dunno. It just sorta…came out. Am I just crazy?"

"No…he _does _work with snakes. I was asking about your little nickname for him. But my _other _teammate…"

He got a faraway look in his eyes, and his smile grew a bit. Naruto didn't think he actually realized this. "She is the slug-tamer. Her name is Tsunade, and-"

"You mean that old hag I met was your _teammate," _Naruto cried. She was still following Jiraiya, though they were far out of town. She wanted answers from him, and…she wasn't very good at leaving subjects alone, once she was interested.

He looked at her, slightly amused and not-so-slightly bewildered. "Old hag? You met Tsunade?"

"Well, yeah," she replied. "Why, is she hiding? It's probably not hard to find her…you just have to look for gambling towns. She doesn't like to come very far into Fire Country. I wasn't with her and Shizune for very long, but I learned that much. Besides…she sucks at gambling, you know. I don't know why she does it."

Jiraiya chuckled. "She's called the Legendary Loser. How did you manage to convince her to let you travel with her?"

"Well…it's kinda weird. When we met, I thought I knew her from somewhere. So I asked her. I annoyed her for a while, and then she flicked me – right here, on my forehead. I realized she was a kunoichi, and I wanted her to train me. She said no, but…" Naruto shrugged. "I don't like to take no for an answer, so I pestered her more and more. In the end, I paid for both our dinners. She wanted to take me outside and pummel me, I think, but…she asked where I got my money. I told her, and she let me come along."

"How _do _you get your money?"

"Well, at first, I found gambling towns. I don't know why, but I'm really lucky; I've never lost a bet, for as long as I can remember. I mean…it's only been about twenty-five days since my first bet with money, or at least as far as I can remember. So I just got rich in each town, and then I met her. It's funny…even though she's really unlucky and I'm really lucky, she never wanted me to gamble for her. I'm not sure why she wanted me along, but it was fun anyway."

She sighed. "Now, I do kunoichi work; there are villages who can't afford to hire ninja from a village, so I do it for much lower prices. It's like being in an orbit group, except without anyone else."

"I can tell you're a kunoichi. Is that the Mochizuki symbol? I thought they were all gone."

Naruto glanced sideways at him, thinking. "…Yes," she said finally. "But I'm not _really _Mochizuki. I was found by the last in the clan; a woman named Yoko. I'd been attacked, we think…I don't remember much before that, but some things are coming back to me. Like names, and stuff. And when I met you, I felt like I knew you. Same as Tsunade-babaa. But Yoko taught me everything she knew, and she asked me to…carry on the name. So even though I wasn't born Mochizuki, I've used it since she asked me to. But then the people in Tara told me my real name."

"And what is that?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The man paused and said, quietly, "Excuse me?"

"Well, that's what _they _said. Maybe they were just confusing me with someone else. I mean…I know my name's Naruto, and Uzumaki _is _kind of familiar, but-"

"You're _alive?"_

Naruto gave him an odd look and felt her torso and hips. "Seems like it to me. Why, is someone looking for me? You _do _know me, then? What can you tell me about me? Who is Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Supposedly dead," he said after a short silence.

"I'm too stubborn to die," she said firmly. "You know that, ero-sennin."

Her eyes widened. "Hey, hey! I _know _you! I met you at the hot springs when I was a boy! You taught me to walk on water, and…wait. You taught me to summon toads, too, but I can't do it any more…and…huh. I'm pretty sure I've ever been a boy. Maybe I'm just getting confused again. Maybe I dreamed it, like the necklace. Hey, what are you doing?"

Jiraiya had her by the wrist, and he was marching her along the path back to the village. She wriggled her arm.

"I can walk, you know! I'm not gonna just run off, or something stupid like that! I want to know about the old Uzumaki Naruto, and you knew me, right?"

"No. I've never met you."

The words were short, and the tone was harsh, but he ruffled her hair anyway.

His eyes were sad, she noticed.

Ooo.ooO

Something had changed. Being around the white-haired man had somehow triggered her memories; faces were coming in clearer, names were popping up. He'd left the village, instructing her to go to Konoha and seek her answers there; she supposed there was no helping it now. She'd just have to go back and hope the rest of her memories came back.

_Sasuke._

_Obito._

_Sakura-chan._

_Kakashi-sensei…or was it just Kakashi?_

_Shikamaru._

_Minato-sensei._

_Rin._

_Kushina-neechan…Mother…_

_Kyuubi no kitsune..._

Names and faces had been flitting in and out of her mind for the past few days, and things were getting clearer. Yoko had said her memories would probably come back if she spent time around things, people, and places she was familiar with.

It had been just a little over a month since she'd left Yoko.

She saw the woman again, and in a rush of strange-feeling chakra, it clicked.

Ooo.ooO

"I'm not done with you, old hag," Naruto shouted. "I know where I met you before! I won't give up, so you'd better listen to me!"

Konoha had been skipped over; she was trailing Tsunade-baachan. She had been trailing her for three days; Naruto was stubborn, and now that she _knew _who the woman was, she wasn't just going to let her _go._

"Naruto-san, _please," _Shizune cried, for the millionth time. "Tsunade-sama is-"

"Really lame for running away," Naruto shouted. "I just wanna _talk _to her! I don't care if it takes me a million years, but I'm _going _to make you listen to me, old lady!"

"It is better to just give up in this case; Tsunade-sama-"

"If I give up on _this, _how can I ever respect myself enough to become Hokage? That's been my dream for a _long _time now, and I'm not giving it up because some lady's almost as stubborn as me. I'll never back down! Don't tell me to give up, _ever," _Naruto replied firmly.

The blonde woman stopped walking suddenly. "You should just forget about it, kid," she said quietly. "The position of Hokage is just-"

"Don't finish that," Naruto interrupted angrily. "I've heard it before. You think anyone would be stupid to want to be Hokage, right? You think that it's worthless, right? Well, guess what? You're _wrong, _and somewhere inside, you _know _it! _You _taught me what it means to be Hokage, and I'm not giving up on you again!"

The woman whirled around. "Worthless, _yes. _Stupid…_yes, _you are. If something I've saidtaught you what it means to be Hokage, then you must be a horrible listener. How did you manage to graduate from the Academy, with your learning skills?"

Naruto smiled and laced her fingers behind her head. Finally, she'd gotten Tsunade-baachan to listen. "Heh. I've heard all that a million times; it doesn't hurt any more. Worthless…stupid…those were my names when I was younger. No one liked me or respected me.

I almost _didn't _graduate; I failed three times, because I couldn't master one technique – bunshin no jutsu. People called me trash, and some of them wouldn't even teach me. Everybody ignored me. But you know what?"

Naruto's smile grew. "One of my teachers hated me so much that he tricked me into stealing an important scroll so he could use it to get back at Konoha or something like that. He told me if I learned a technique from it, I could graduate. And I _did it. _I still, to this day, can't use bunshin…but I can use kage-bunshin. I got this far because there's only one thing I'm worse at than bunshin…and that's giving up."

"That's a nice story," Tsunade-baachan said dryly. "That has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you," Naruto countered. "You won't remember this, but I met you several years ago. I was twelve, and we had this _same _conversation. You made a bet with me, and you thought you could win…but _I _won. You were the first person who told me I _could _reach my goal…and that was one of the happiest days of my life, even though I died and you had to bring me back to life. I hated you, because you said horrible things about the Hokage. You didn't like blood, I remember. But then, when I died, you overcame that. I respected you…"

She sighed. "But the Tsunade _I _know isn't like you. Maybe this was a waste of my time."

Naruto turned away and said, without turning around, "Someone very precious to me once told me that in order to move on, I had to accept my loss. I couldn't run away from it, because I would never be able to feel better about it. I lost the two people I loved, and I lost my brother. I couldn't let it overwhelm me, because we were in the middle of a war and I wanted to make sure the people I had left were safe."

She glanced over her shoulder. "That woman was the same person who gave me this necklace. I know it doesn't make sense to you…and I'm not giving up on you. But I have to get back to Konoha before October tenth and tell someone to do this for me, because I won't be alive for very much longer. I have to save the people I love…and even though I'll die, I _can _save them."

She turned away again and waved over her shoulder. "I had hoped I could bring you back to Konoha with me, but it's obvious we'll need to work on you more. If you see ero-sennin – you know, your perverted teammate – tell him to stay away from the hot springs. It's bad for his health."

She walked away, without looking back. She refused to give up…but she had something more important to do now. She'd ask Rin, Kakashi, and Obito…as a last request.

And before she died, she'd tell Obito she loved him.

* * *

Any of you wondering what the chakra thing is all about? I'll tell you what I was trying to do. When you break a bone, it _can _heal on its own, but if you don't set it there's a chance it will heal _wrong _and it can be messed up for good. If it _does _heal wrong, you have to re-break it. After you re-break and set it, then your bone will heal right; it may not heal as strong as it would have originally, but it's better than leaving it in the wrong position or whatever. I see this as the same; we all know that Naruto's demon chakra helps with the healing. But in the case of the brain, it's more difficult; you can't heal something if you don't know what's wrong. (Naruto's chakra isn't sentient like a doctor or anything...but I hope you get what I mean.) She was able to relearn things quickly, but she couldn't regain her memories until she found some sort of trigger. _Then _her brain could heal.

Now, let me explain the OOC:

In fandom, there is a tendency to make Jiraiya only perverted, and always goofy. However, I disagree; I'm convinced that Jiraiya's information network includes women he associates with. And besides; in this, at first he isn't sure if he's seeing straight, and he feels a connection to Naruto without knowing _why. _He's obviously got plenty of serious moments; I just made this one of them.

And about Tsunade: she isn't stupid. She isn't a _drunk, _like people sometimes write her. She couldn't exactly function if she was. It's my guess that she's built up her tolerance for alcohol over the years; she started drinking to forget, and now it's just a habit. She's not a cruel woman, when Naruto first meets her; just bitter and sad. And she may refuse to listen to things she doesn't want to hear, but that doesn't mean she's impervious to words which affect her. (Plus, Naruto's persuasive skills are rivaled by no one's. In canon, Naruto manages to change almost everyone he comes in contact with. This is, in my opinion, a valid scenario. Of course, it's just my opinion.)


End file.
